Rising Shadows
by Vice Vanness
Summary: The Cullens go to Dartmouth and find themselves face to face with danger once again. True to the characters, true to the story, a direct sequel.


**RISING SHADOWS**

**PROLOGUE**

**BELLA**

I thought being a vampire would make me strong enough to defend my family, durable enough to face any danger to the ones I loved, and fast enough to be there for them when they needed me. I had hoped my bad luck would change when I did. I had hoped death would stop trying to run me down and everyone who stood in his way. So many assumptions I had made and so far they've all been wrong. I had not been strong enough, fast enough or durable enough to save my family from the catastrophe we now faced.

As the assassin strolled through the pieces of my family strewn all over our yard, I was suddenly reminded of James, my would-be killer when I was still human. He was a school-yard bully compared to this. I was reminded of my nightmares of the Volturi coming for my unborn child. This was the nightmare my subconscious would never have been able to face. I was reminded of Victoria, Jame's mate who had tried to avenge him with my death. She had bred an army of vampires to get to me. This monster had done by himself what she failed to do with twenty. We had fought with everything we had and it had not been near enough.

"It is over, Bella. The child must die."

**CHAPTER 1: BLINDSIDED**

**EDWARD**

I checked my watch for the tenth time and was beginning to think we were going to be late, no matter what Alice said.

"Rosalie, your a married woman, you do not need to look like a goddess every time you step out the door!" I called up the stairs more loudly than I needed to. Bella put her arm around my side and rested her chin on my shoulder. I was momentarily intoxicated by her scent and felt my frustration bleed out of me.

"She'll be down the stairs in sixty-eight seconds, Edward, calm down." Said Alice, her massive suitcases laid out next to her. It looked like she was taking half of her wardrobe with her while Jasper, his fingers entwined with hers, had packed only one average sized piece of luggage.

"You're sure nothing's going to happen today?" I asked Alice. My life had been too perfect for the past few months. I had my true destiny and soul mate, Bella, by my side every minute of the day and night. I had my beautiful daughter Renesmee growing healthy and strong. My family was safe and free of worry. And Bella was starting her first semester of college at Dartmouth University with myself, Emmett, Rosalie and Carlisle.

I was taking the same classes as Bella; mostly basic courses everyone had to take for their first semester. Rosalie was taking miscellaneous classes to finish a few degrees she was close to earning while Emmett tagged along for the hell of it. Carlisle was taking veterinarian classes in consideration of the pack of werewolves we had allied with near Forks, Washington last year while his wife Esme stayed home to tutor Nessie and Jacob, one of the unwilling leaders of the werewolves and hopeless enchantee of my daughter.

"I see an average boring day at school, Edward." Replied Alice with slight annoyance in her tone. "However, _my _flight is going to be delayed twenty minutes and there's going to be a bad typhoon a couple days after we get to Tokyo." She said with disappointment. She and Jasper were going on vacation to Japan for a couple weeks.

"Don't forget to bring back a few souvenirs for me." Jacob encouraged her as he came into the room with Renesmee on his hip. Nessie reached for her mother.

"Anything for you, fuzzy." Said Alice with a tinkling giggle. Jacob grimaced.

"Where's Carlisle?" Asked Bella as she took Renesmee into her arms and hugged her close.

"He's bringing the car around." I answered, smiling brightly at my beautiful daughter. My impatience with Rosalie was all but forgotten.

"Are you coming back soon?" Nessie asked us in her cherubic voice. She had never had a day in her life without one of her parents at home. This was the first time we would both have to leave her behind. I could tell it pained Bella just as much as it did me.

"Of course, sweetie, we'll back back in a few hours, ok?" Said Bella as she stroked Nessie's glorious bronze curls. I felt Bella push away the invisible shield she had in her mind that kept me from hearing her thoughts. "Do we have to do this, Edward?" She asked with her mental voice.

Bella had been hesitant to go to college when she was human because she would have needed to borrow money from my family just to enroll in Dartmouth and was not sure she would be able to keep up with Ivy League curriculum. Now that Bella was a vampire, I had no doubt that she could keep up academically and her marriage to me meant what is mine is hers, including my money. She was clinging to Renesmee as an excuse not to go.

"Bella, she'll be fine. I trust Jacob and Esme to take care of her while we're gone. It's just a few hours, love." I reassured her quietly and kisses her forehead.

Right on cue, Rosalie came breezing down the stairs looking like a super-model fresh off the runway with Emmett bounding after her dressed like a movie star. For goodness sake, it was only an orientation class tonight.

Alice and Jasper were taking Carlisle's car to the airport with Esme's promise that she would pick it back up from the lot after we got home from school. Alice didn't want her blindingly bright yellow Porsche sitting undefended for so much as ten minutes, whether she could see the future or not. Emmett rode with Rosalie in her flashy red Corvette while Bella, Carlisle and I took my Volvo for nestalgia's sake; this was the same car I used to take her to school in when she was still human.

The ride to school went smoothly, even with Alice and Rosalie racing each other until they had to take separate paths - Alice to the airport, Rose and myself towards Dartmouth. We arrived and found the lecture hall for the orientation class without event.

As my family strolled into the classroom I saw most every face turn towards us and do the usual double-take. It is a given that all vampires are excessively beautiful by human standards, the better to attract their prey, and my family was no exception. Then came their mental analysis of us, mostly crude fantasies and hopeful admiration. Sometimes I wished I could shut off my ability to hear thoughts altogether, but the best I could do for now was ignore them until it was a jumbled hum of voices.

My family took their seats all along the back row. Bella sat on my left with Emmett and Rosalie further down and Carlisle on the end. We were all very enthusiastic about Bella's first day at school until the teacher walked in. The moment he stepped out of the office and into the small lecture hall we were in, I knew he was a vampire.

He was an inch or two over six feet tall, appeared to be around twenty eight years old and too handsome to be human. His steps were so lithe and silent he hardly seemed to be touching the ground. His hair was a rich brown color, caught up in a ponytail high on the back of his head. His eyes should have been a deep crimson color, for I doubted he was a "vegetarian" like every member of my family, but he had masked it with dark contact lenses. But even by vampire standards, there was something off about him.

His skin was not a pale white like it should have been. It was an even tanned color, like Jacob's native American skin, but a little lighter. It wasn't until he moved towards the desk and the lights shone down on him that I could see he had covered all exposed skin with a layer of makeup. The teacher's facial features were so unique in their subtle curves and lean proportions that it was impossible for me to place where he might be from. His clothes, a light gray sweater, white slacks and brown leather dress-shoes, were obviously expensive in design but also had an odd shimmer to them which I doubted human eyes could notice. They hugged his physique and showed that he was built like an average action movie star. It wasn't until he picked up the clipboard on his desk with the attendance list on it that I realized I could not hear his thoughts. Something was not right about this vampire.

I was bombarded with the thoughts and quiet mumblings of the shocked students at the sight of their teacher.

"That's our teacher? I hope he asks me to stay after class."

"I better not piss off this guy, he looks like he can handle himself."

"No wedding ring? He's too hot to be straight, but here's hoping."

"I wonder what he does in his spare time to get a body like that? I should ask him."

"Carlisle Cullen." The teacher read from the list at the same time his eyes looked up at my father without having to search the room for him. His voice was strong with an accent I couldn't place and carried clearly throughout the lecture hall. I searched for his mind again and still could not hear it.

"Here." Answered Carlisle. I searched his thoughts and saw that he did not recognize the teacher.

"Trust your precious wife to draw us into another bad situation, Edward." Thought Rosalie, my sister.

"He looks like he'd be fun to fight." Were Emmett's thoughts.

"Flacara Kindell." Called out the teacher. He did not look up from the list when no one answered. "Flacara Kindell?" He said louder.

"Here! I'm here!" Came a childish voice from the other side of the classroom door just before it burst open and a flustered girl no older than fifteen came stumbling in. She was less than five feet tall and had such a cute face that my first assumption was that she was a vampire too, but I could feel heat coming from her, heard a heartbeat resonating from her chest and could smell her human scent. Her eyes were made a rich violet color by colored contacts, but the rest of her was so outrageous that it did not surprise me.

Flacara looked like she'd just gotten back from a techno rave. She was wearing a short red and black skirt, matching wheelie sneakers and a fashionably shredded black t-shirt with sleeves that were a few inches too long. Her hair was streaked with so many colors it was hard to tell which one was the original.

When she passed by my seat while rolling down the isle on her wheelie shoes, I realized there was something unsettling about her as well. Her clothes all had the same undefinable shimmer to them as the teacher's and her mind was flooded with lyrics in a language I didn't know. Her heartbeat did not sound right either.

"Rosalie King." As soon the teacher spoke those words, a huge red flag went up in my mind and I heard Rose hiss under her breath. Her thoughts were red with rage.

"How dare he give me that pigs last name!" She bellowed in her mind. King had been the last name of her long-deceased rapist fiance.

"Something's not right here." Thought Carlisle.

"Oh, I'm definitely staying after class now." Thought Emmett as he ground one of his fists into his other palm.

The teacher looked up at Rose when she didn't answer. She simply glared at him, daring him to say the name again. The teacher shrugged his shoulders and called out the next name on the list.

Since I could not hear Bella's thoughts, I didn't know she had something to say until she kicked me in the shin and slid a note across her desk to mine.

_How does he know about Rose? _The note said.

_I don't know, Bella. _I wrote back.

_What's he thinking about?_

_I can't hear his thoughts.  
_

_He's blocking you? Like me? _

_No. This is something different. I can't hear your thoughts, but I know your mind is there. I can't even find his._

_What about the other vampire?_

_What other vampire?_

_Edward, there's another one to your right sitting between the cowboy and the weird girl!_

_What cowboy?_

_Are you serious!?  
_

Suddenly I heard another voice in my head, one that had not been there before, coming from my right. "Weird girl? Her name is Flacara." It said with a light southern accent.

I turned my head to the right faster then I should have and was shocked to be looking into the eyes of a stranger I had not known was there. He was wearing reflective silver glasses low on his nose and had a cigarette tucked into his pierced left ear under his short and messy black hair. He wore a plain white, long sleeved button down shirt, a black cowboy hat, wrangler jeans and cowboy boots. His face was a natural pale color and he had a small goatee. Once again I could not be sure whether or not he was a vampire. I could feel heat coming from him and heard a heartbeat, but, like the girl's, it did not sound right. And, like the girl, he smelled human and his clothes had that unfamiliar sheen to them.

I looked down at the note. Given the stranger's posture and the note's position between myself and Bella, there's no way he could have seen it. "I didn't see it." His mind said.

"Are you reading my mind?" I thought without looking at the stranger.

"No." His mind answered while he turned his head back to the face the teacher, leaned back in his chair and tipped his hat forward a little.

"Stop it!" My mind commanded.

"Stop what?" His mind answered. I could see the corner of his mouth curling slightly with amusement. "Can't take a taste of your own medicine?" He asked without malice.

_I only see the cowboy between me and the raver girl, Bella. _I wrote, trying to ignore the stranger. When Bella read the note, her eyebrows furrowed with worry and she looked me in the eyes before writing her reply.

_Edward, there's another someone on his right. And he's obviously not human._

I turned my head and looked again, only to be turned to stone with disbelief. The cowboy was gone and I couldn't hear his mind anymore. I hadn't heard him so much as shift in his chair. On top of that, I didn't see anyone in the chair next to him either. I looked back at Bella and shook my head.

"Emmett McCarty." Called out the teacher, his eyes fixing on Emmett.

"Here!" He barked out with undisguised defiance. The teacher smiled to himself before looking at the list again.

_Bella, can you shield me for a few seconds?_ I wrote on the note.

_I'll try, but it's harder to do when I'm freaking out._ She wrote and closed her eyes, still frowning with worry.

"Don't bother." Said the cowboy out loud, but quietly. Bella's eyes flew open and were wide with shock. I can't be sure mine weren't as well. The stranger was back and didn't appear to have moved a muscle.

"What are you talking about?" I thought as I glared at the cowboy.

"She was going to shield you so you can see the guy next to me. Trouble is, I can use the same shield to keep her from doing that." His mind said.

"How?" I asked in my head, considering calling his bluff.

"That's for me to know." He replied. When I tried to read deeper into his thoughts they suddenly disappeared, but he remained sitting calmly in his seat.

Bella kicked me again, harder this time.

_Does he know about my ability? _She wrote in big letters.

_Yes. And it appears that he has it too. I can't read his mind any more.  
_

_Wait, were you talking to him?_

_Yes._

_He can read minds too?_

_It would appear so._

"Edward Masen." Called out the teacher.

I looked into his eyes and tried to find his mind again without success. "Here." I answered, making sure my voice did not betray my unease. He held my gaze for a few moments longer. There was something about his eyes that was unsettling.

"Keep it up, asshole." Thought Emmett, still contemplating how he was going to make the teacher apologize for insulting Rose.

"Are you still on good terms with your brother?" Asked the cowboy.

I didn't say yes in my head, but he didn't hear a no either. "Then I highly advise you to keep him from provoking professor Ramorus unless you want to see how fast a vampire can die." I caught a glimpse of something extremely violent in the cowboy's mind, but he shielded his thoughts before I could make sense of it. His mind spoke again a few seconds later. "You don't want to see that memory. Trust me."

I looked at the professor again and tried to match him to the glimpse I had seen, but all I could be sure of in the memory were several reflective surfaces and fire. Everything else was a blur of motion.

"Let it go, Edward. With any luck, you'll never have to understand it." There was something behind that statement, something big, something important but he and his thoughts faded into nothing before I could grasp it.

"Damnit." I hissed under my breath. I realized if we hadn't tried to blend into the background as usual by taking the back row, the cowboy wouldn't be able to pop in and out like that without attracting attention.

"Sangeros Oglinda." Said Ramorus as he looked up at the empty chair next to where the stranger had been sitting. I didn't hear an answer, but he didn't call the name again. Bingo. That must be the other vampire I can't see.

"Figured that out all by yourself?" Said the cowboy. He still hadn't moved from his reclined posture.

I heard Carlisle analyze the name in his head. "Sangeros... that means blood or bloody in Romanian. And Oglinda is mirror. Bloody Mirror? Who would call their child that?"

"He's pretty quick. If he knew his real name, I'd be impressed. But he'd also be running for his life." Thought the cowboy.

"My father is not a coward." I retorted angrily in my head.

"No, he isn't. But he knows when to stand and when to run. Looks like Bella has a note for you." He said just before my wife kicked me in the leg once more.

_I thought Alice said nothing was going to happen? _She had written. She was right. Alice _should_ have seen this. She said we'd have a normal, boring day at school.

_I don't know. I don't like this situation at all._

"Bella Swan." Called out the teacher, locking his eyes on my wife and nearly drawing a snarl out of me.

"Here." She answered clearly and raised her hand.

The teachers next words filled me with fiery anger and froze me with fear. "How's your little girl?" He asked like he was an old friend of hers.

"Sh-she's fine." Answered Bella nervously and I saw her wince at her mistake. We were supposed to be fresh out of high school and the other students did not miss that. I could hear it in their thoughts.

"Wow, a mother already? Poor girl."

"Hmmm... so she's hot AND easy. This just keeps getting better."

"How did she keep that body after having a kid? I'll have to ask her sometime."

_Edward! _Her next message said and I could see the raw panic in her face. A strange vampire new about our daughter.

_I know, we're leaving, get your stuff. The others will get the idea._

While Bella was putting her notebook and introductory handouts in her bag, the cowboy spoke up again.

"You had better stay." His mind said. His thoughts weren't threatening, merely informative.

"Why should we? Your professor has just embarrassed my wife in front of these children.

"He didn't mean to, he has a genuine interest in Nessie." These words knocked me for another loop.

"You stay the hell away from my family and leave us alone!" I screamed in my head.

"Ok, but do you remember Flacara?" He looked at me and then pointed past him to the raver girl who was staring into space at the professor while swinging her legs to a beat I could hear in her head.

"What about her?" I asked in my mind.

"She's going to incinerate this room and everyone in it if you guys leave before talking to the professor." Once again, his thoughts came to me as thought he honestly did not want that to happen. Then he showed me what he meant about Flacara. I saw her standing in a yard of lush green grass, livid with anger because one of her favorite TV shows had been canceled. Within a twenty foot radius around and above her, everything was shimmering with heat and scorched to embers. "And that was just an accident." He said.

I nudged Bella and showed her my new message.

_Stay in your seat._

_Why?_

_The weird girl could turn this whole room into a pile of ash._

_Then why are we still here!?_

_So she won't turn the whole room into a pile of ash. The cowboy is saying she will do it if we don't wait until after class to talk to the professor._

_Why?_

_I don't know.  
_

"Jack West." Called the professor and looked at the cowboy.

"Here." He answered and raised his hand.

"Hello Jack." I thought and sneered at him.

"Greetings, Ed." He replied and tipped his hat to me.


End file.
